Kentucky teacher suspended after student dresses in KKK clothing

A middle school teacher in Kentucky has been suspended this week pending an investigation into why a student dressed up in Ku Klux Klan clothing for a history project, according to local media. 

The teacher at Southern Middle School reportedly assigned a history project to her class to write and do a presentation of a historical figure. One student posted a TikTok last week in KKK clothing on a school bus. Allegedly, the student had received permission from the teacher to dress up as Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Army general and the first grand wizard of the KKK.

Patrick Richardson, superintendent of Pulaski County, the Southern Kentucky county where the event occurred, told local press he is disappointed and embarrassed by the incident, which is under investigation. 

Antisemitism in Kentucky

In February of 2021, Kentucky became the first US State to adopt the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism. The definition is widely accepted throughout the global Jewish community.

Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, the Chairman of the Kentucky Jewish Council, delivered a report on antisemitism in Kentucky in 2022 at the state capitol in Frankfort in January. 

Among the incidents included in the Kentucky antisemitism report was an email from The Nation of Islam sent to State Legislators asking for action to be taken against the Jewish community, a bomb threat received by The Jewish Community Center in Louisville, various incidents of white supremacists distributing antisemitic flyers, reports of various forms of verbal abuse, as well as several instances of Black Hebrew Israelites inciting hatred against Jews and falsely labeling Jewish people as "fake Jews."

Sam Halpern contributed to this report.